1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a software transmission system. Further, the present invention relates to a software transmission method and a computer program, and more particularly, relates to a technique to transmit software such as firmware from a server to a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to deal with malfunction of firmware and add a function to a device such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP), systems to immediately or irregularly update the firmware have been developed. To realize such systems, various methods have been discussed. For example, there are a method in which a device receives firmware from a server via the Internet and updates the firmware, and a method in which a server transmits firmware to a device and updates the firmware on an intranet. A number of devices which are monitored by a server in a system has increased every year. Further, such systems are expected to be developed more and more in the future.
As a known technique for such a system, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-165734 can be cited. In the technique, when firmware that has trouble is to be updated to new firmware, it is determined that which module the new firmware controls. Then, the module is stopped, and the new firmware is updated.